YHP South Africa - Orange Corners

South Africa, with activity focused on urban, rural and underdeveloped areas, including township communities such as Tembisa and Alexandra, and the broader Johannesburg area.

Completed 2025

Young people in under-resourced communities can face significant barriers to employment, entrepreneurship, economic inclusion and access to opportunities that support long-term health and wellbeing.

AstraZeneca’s Young Health Programme recognises that supporting adolescent and youth health requires a holistic approach. Alongside health education, protective environments and youth-friendly services, young people need opportunities to build skills, confidence and leadership potential so they can shape healthier futures for themselves and their communities.

To support young people in South Africa to strengthen their entrepreneurial skills, improve their employment prospects and build sustainable livelihoods.

Through Orange Corners South Africa, the programme aimed to empower entrepreneurs, predominantly Black-owned businesses and young Black people wishing to start a business, by providing an enabling platform for beneficiaries in urban, rural and underdeveloped areas.

Orange Corners is an initiative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands that aims to increase job prospects for young people aged 18 to 35, with a focus on Africa and the Middle East.

Orange Corners strengthens ecosystems for youth entrepreneurship and youth employment, and stimulates the entrepreneurial mindset of young people through entrepreneurial incubation and acceleration programmes, support for policy development, entrepreneurship education, access to finance, skills training and business challenges. In this way, Orange Corners contributes to sustainable and inclusive economic growth and decent work for all.

Orange Corners South Africa consisted of two main elements:

• First, a start-up programme supported grassroots entrepreneurs from township backgrounds, including Tembisa and Alexandra. This strand focused on building basic business acumen and social entrepreneurship in the community, and creating sustainable small businesses and social upliftment.
• Second, a programme supported high-growth creative urban entrepreneurs and SMEs from the broader Johannesburg area. Through this strand, Orange Corners helped grow the number of sustainable job creators by supporting established start-ups, with a focus on access to markets and finance.